BABULAL JAIN Vs. STATE OF M P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE four petitioners, who are Councillors of the Kolaras Municipal Council, have filed this application under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution for the issue of a wiit of certiorari for quashing an order of the State Government made on 22nd January 1966 holding that the motion of 'no- confidence' moved against the respondent No. 2, Chintamani Jain, the President of the Council, was not validly passed, and for a direction restraining the said respondent from functioning as President of the Council.

(2.) THE Kolaras Municipal Council was constituted in 1959, under the Madhya Bharat Municipalities Act, 1954. THE respondent No. 2, Chintamani Jain, and the petitioner No. 1, Babulal Jain, were then elected as President and Vice-President of the Council. THEy were holding these offices when the Madhya Pradesh Municipalities Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as the Act), came into force. By virtue of section 2 (2) (ii) of the Act, the Municipal Council, the members of the Council, and the President and Vice-President thereof continued to function till the expiry of their term under the M.B, Municipalities Act,1954, which was repealed by the Act of 1961, for sometime thereafter. On 18th March 1963 fresh elections to the Municipal Council were held under the provisions of the Act of 1961, and after this election the non- applicant No. 2, Chintamani Jain, was again elected as President. THE Council consists of six members. On 9th January 1955 three of the Councillors sent a notice of a motion of no-confidence against the President, Chintamani Jain, and sent a requisition to the Chief Municipal Officer to convene a meeting of the Council for discussing the motion. THE Chief Municipal Officer, acting under section 47 (2) of the Act, issued a notice of the meeting to the Councillors intimating them that the meeting for discussion of the no-confidence motion would be held on 27th January 1985. THE meeting was held on that date at the appointed hour and was attended by all the six Councillors. At this meeting, the motion of no-confidence against the President was passed by a majority of two-thirds of the Councillors present and voting. Four of the Councillors voted in favour of the motion and two against it.

(3.) HAVING heard learned counsel for the parties, we have reached the conclusion that this petition must be allowed. For the purposes of this petition, it is not necessary to enter into a discussion of the question whether the election to the Municipal Council, Kolaras, and of the President and Vice-President thereof held in March 1963 should have been under the M. B. Municipalities Act, 1954, instead of under the Act of 1961. If a new election to the Council could be held in 1963, then, whether that election was held under the repealed Act of 1954 or the new Act of 1961, the new Council which came into existence would be a Council under the Act of 1961. That being so, the provisions of section 47 of the Act of 1961 regulating the moving and passing of a no-confidence motion against a President would clearly apply. There is nothing in section 2(2) (ii) of the Act, as it stood originally, or even after it was amended by Act No. 31 of 1963, to support the argument that when a fresh election to the Council and of its office-bearers is held under the repealed Act after the coming into force of the Act of 1961, then the functioning of the new Council wonId bo under repealed Act. Section 2 (2) (ii) only deals with the functioning of the continued bodies and the office-bears until the expiry of the respective terms under the repealed Act. If, on the other hand, it is taken that in 1963 fresh election to the Council and of its office bearers could not be held and the council and the office-bearers elected in 1959 continued to function then and even till now, then also, as held by this Court in Sheokumar Shastri v. M.C, Rajnandgaon(1964 MPLJ 197), after the coming into force of the Act of 1961 a motion of no-confidence could be moved only in accordance with the provisions of section 47 of the Act of 1961.